"The stockings were hung, by the chimney with care..."

I had to post these pictures from tonight. Aside from the first picture not being completely straight, I love them. Our mantel is fully decked out and ready for Santa to come bounding down on Christmas Eve night. I am so excited for Christmas this year. Yes, I love everything the Holiday season brings with it: the decorating, the tree cutting, the lights, the music, the baking, the get-togethers etc. All of that is wonderful and I've looked forward to it since I was a little girl. This year I'm extra excited and really into the "Christmas Spirit" because my little girl is taking it all in for the first time! She is completely and utterly amazed and I'm loving every moment of it! Last Christmas she was 6 months old and not really aware of what was going on. This year, it's totally different. When we turn our outdoor lights on, she points and says, "Look, look!" She LOVES seeing houses in our neighborhood lit up with lights and says "more more" as we drive past. I have a lighted village (which I feel special having because it's my mom's) set up on our mantel that she just can't get enough of. Today we hung our stockings and she's equally elated about those too. I love watching her experience all of this for the first time. And of course, I'm having a hard time finishing up her Christmas shopping... ha ha ha!

Something else I'm excited about:

Our stockings! We each have our own stocking now that we'll have forever!! Mark and I have never hung stockings before during Christmas. Mine from when I was young is just so old and fragile that I just keep it packed up. I thought we'd get our stockings after we were married, but I never did it. This year I ordered stockings for the 3 of us and they're adorable! Now we'll always have them and when Avery is old enough, she can have it and hang it on her own mantel with her babies' stockings... someday! :)

Happy Holidays all!

'S' Family Session

I'm so excited to post this sneak peak of another session I was able to do for my dearest friend and her beautiful family! Brace yourselves...these are precious!!

Daddy's girl!

And Mommy's girls...

Ok, ok... I'm getting a little carried away with 4 peaks!! Ha ha... but they're just so sweet! Enjoy!

'W' Family Session

Within the last few days I've had the privilege of shooting a few family sessions. Here's a little sneak peak of one family. I'm just about finished with processing their images and what I'm seeing makes me smile!! :)

And another......

Isn't she a sweetie? I love the expression on her face in this picture. She wasn't quite sure of what to make of myself and my camera and this image definitely tells you what she was thinkin'!!

She's Baaaack!!

Can you say BEAUTIFUL??

My little bug's got her SPARKLE back! Definitely feeling better today. She had a fabulous breakfast of strawberry yogurt and bites of a blueberry muffin! I can't tell you how excited and relieved for her I am. And I'm excited to get my camera back out now that she's happier and I have the time (and the hands)!! :)

Hopefully we'll get to put our pink kitty boots on and play outside after she wakes up! Neither one of us has seen much daylight lately! Enjoy... :)

10 Days...

Avery laying on the bottom step while my mom rubbed her back the other night

...of Avery being sick. My last post I had said I thought she was getting better. NOPE! Now she's getting better. We finally found out she has a viral infection in her mouth. Long story short: by last Friday she was dehydrated so we went back to the Dr., he prescribed Tylenol with Codeine, we got a little relief, added Motrin in between (Dr.'s orders) and slowly but surely she's eating and drinking more each day. But what a rough 10 days! She's finally back to sleeping through the night and taking normal naps and that sure helps! Today was a pretty good day. Avery played while she was awake and ate yogurt, cheese and chocolate pudding!! Definitely making progress!!!

In other exciting news... I've got another photo session lined up for Monday and another the following weekend for my very wonderful friend! I'm very excited and looking forward to getting out of the house too now that Avery is feeling a lot better! Stay tuned... Normal posting will resume as Avery's health improves! And thank you to our friends and family who prayed for Avery during this awful time! Someone must have been listening... :):)

I'm Still Here...

...Just busy lately. My little bug's been sick but I think she's starting to feel better today, thankfully. It just breaks my heart to see my usually happy girl feel so uncomfortable and sick. I'll have some pictures coming soon... Gotta run for now! :)